


Fake It Till You Make It

by reptilianraven



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Disclaimer: they dont kiss in this fic, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Valentine's Day, i wanted to say that from the get go, incubus, mentions of sex caused by dubious magical ways, they do a lot of aggressive hand holding though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 08:42:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3350471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reptilianraven/pseuds/reptilianraven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Oh my god, on the list of terrible things in your life, this can't possibly be the worst.” Stiles says as he grabs Derek's hand. He holds it awkwardly in his, aiming for tender and caring. He's sure 98% it isn't working. He's holding Derek's hand like it's the knife Derek wants to stab him with. “So you're going to buck up and smile your best <i>I'm Dating Stiles Stilinski and I Like It</i> smile or we get sexed by a lust demon! Your pick, Derek.”</p><p>-</p><p>The one where Stiles really didn't plan on spending Valentine's Day pretending to be Derek's fake boyfriend so they could safely hunt down an incubus. Funny how life works sometimes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fake It Till You Make It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Comet260](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Comet260/gifts).



> HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY COMET260!!! idk if u noticed but i very unsubtly asked you about your [top 5 favorite fanfic tropes.](http://comet260.tumblr.com/post/109859813614/hey-there-not-for-any-particular-reason-at) out of the 5 you listed, i was only able to get Fake Boyfriends and Forced Proximity to fit in omg.
> 
> this is set in my favorite post 3b limbo state where nobody died and nobody came back to life. ive pretty much set up camp in this limbo time. come join me. theres a lot nice things here. lots of denial.
> 
> anyways, i had a _blast_ writing this. i hope you, and everybody else, enjoys this!!

“So, uh, you look nice.” Stiles tries. Real emphasis on the word ‘try’, here. He’s pretty sure there’s a hidden question mark in what he just said, but hey, at least he’s _trying_ unlike some other people here.

“Right,” Derek just looks at him like he wants to implode. That’s fair enough. Stiles also wants implode. All in all, this week hasn’t been a good one.

It all started a few days ago when the pack had sensed some sort of _weird vibe_ in the air. Leave it up to them to say things that are completely unhelpful and at the same time extremely worry inducing. Thankfully, after Stiles did a lot of complaining about werewolf senses, they explained that this vibe was like this haze of desire and want.

Stiles figured that it was probably just the hormones soaked in with the Valentine’s frenzy that always comes in February. Nothing to worry about. 

Leave it up to Stiles to jinx everything.

A bunch of cases of extremely embarrassing public sex started occurring around town shortly after that. While it was mortifying for everybody involved, it also happened under some really fishy circumstances. Nobody participating could remember _how_ they came about just suddenly fucking somebody they didn’t know. Stacey from the bakery downtown was just closing up shop then bam, next thing she knows she’s naked with a dude behind a bush in some random front yard. And that’s just one case. There have been seven this week.

Deaton was the one to finally rule it out as an incubus and not just the world getting weirder. Stiles was expecting this. The Nemeton is finally starting to attract the odd and dangerous to Beacon Hills. Evil sex demon? Definitely odd and dangerous. It turns out though, the incubus isn’t actually that bad. Apparently, this one is either really young or really inexperienced, since a fully fledged incubus would literally do everything in its power to _not_ get noticed. But just because it isn’t dangerous, doesn’t mean it isn’t, er, disruptive.

If Stiles has to listen to Parrish complain about arresting embarrassed naked people _one more time_ —

“You’re really hellbent on putting the awkward in awkward date, huh?” Derek says and Stiles snaps out of it enough to bring his attention back to him.

“Hey, I’m just trying to get a conversation going.” He mutters into his coffee. Again, emphasis on the word ‘try’. 

“The incubus doesn’t have enhanced hearing,” Derek rolls his eyes before he goes back to not-so-subtly scoping the coffee shop. He can afford to sniff and look as unsubtly as he can, though. They’re safely seated in a booth in the corner of the shop. In the very dimly lit corner of the shop. In a seat which was probably made for actual couples who are fine with being this close to each other. “So you can drop it.”

“Well, you know what it does have? _Freaky love sensors_ , Derek.” Stiles tells him.

Derek raises an eyebrow. Stiles really wonders if he practices that in the mirror. “Okay, so?”

Stiles resists banging his head on the table.

Here’s the thing, Stiles did a lot of reading on incubi and succubi. When he says he did a lot of reading, he really means that Lydia and Deaton dropped by his house uninvited and dumped a bunch of ancient books in his room. At least the books were helpful and gave him information, unlike the ones who dropped them off. 

Incubi and succubi live off of the magical energy that comes from sex or sexual desire. They could get this energy through sex, or being in close proximity of people who are currently having sex. Stiles figures that it must get tiring to constantly have sex or hunt down people who are doing the do, so incubi and succubi have this power. Sex compulsion. Magic that turns people into horny sacks of meat. Voila, dinner is served. But there is one loophole in this kind of magic. 

Sex magic doesn’t work on people who are in love.

The book went pretty in depth about the kind of love. It had to be romantic, not just platonic or familial, which sucks for a lot of people. And it had to be requited too. But even with those limitations, this was a great weakness. It’s February. It’s three days before Valentine’s day. Thanks to the societal norms of Valentine’s, majority of the town is practically drowning in romantic love. This gives most of them some safety from sudden orgies in the middle of a grocery aisle, or something. But once Valentine’s is over, most of that lovey shit is gonna bleed away.

The pack plans to find the incubus before then. This is a sound plan. Except—

 _Except_ —

“Are you serious? Did you really forget _why_ I’m even with you right now?” Stiles asks. Derek just shrugs, completely nonchalant. “Holy shit were you not listening when I was talking about the plan, dude?”

“Sorry, I was sort of busy trying to smell through the general haze of people to try and pinpoint the incubus who’s masking his scent.” Derek quips back. “You know, important stuff.”

Stiles takes a deep breath. He thinks about calming things like hamsters or really soft bread.

“I’m here to be your pretend boyfriend!” Stiles yells as quietly as he can. Meanwhile, Derek’s face does this thing where his nose scrunches up and he frowns like he learned about an animal going extinct. “Love is the best defense against sex magic, right? And if we want to hunt the thing down, we both have to be on our toes and not be having sex with random people, right? That means we need love, dude. Romantic love. Something both of us don’t have. You following me here?”

“Yes,” He says but there’s a little bit of a question mark at the end. 

“But like Deaton said before, this incubus is inexperienced. So chances are, he can’t figure out the difference between fake romantic love and the real stuff.” Stiles tells him. “That is why I am here sitting incredibly close to you.”

“Okay,” Derek says simply, but there’s something in his voice that sounds strained. “You’re my cover.”

“Yeah, and you _aren’t helping with that at all_.” Stiles hisses. “I can’t pretend to be your fake boyfriend if you keep on acting like you hate me.”

“I don’t hate you.” Derek says quietly as he takes a sip of Stiles’ coffee, wincing at it, then putting it down.

“Well, try to look more like it. From an outsider’s perspective, we look like either a date gone very wrong or the events that lead to homicide.” Stiles says. “So stop looking at me like you want to break my neck and put your arm around me, or something.”

“I, uh.” Is Derek’s wonderfully eloquent reply. 

“Oh my god, on the list of terrible things in your life, this can't possibly be the worst.” Stiles says as he grabs Derek's hand. He holds it awkwardly in his, aiming for tender and caring. He's sure 98% it isn't working. He's holding Derek's hand like it's the knife Derek wants to stab him with. “So you're going to buck up and smile your best _I'm Dating Stiles Stilinski and I Like It Smile_ or we get sexed by a lust demon! Your pick, Derek.”

Of course, that’s when somebody passes by their table and sends them a look of concern. Stiles can’t see Derek’s face right now, but he really hopes he isn’t actually smiling. When Derek fakes a smile, that’s when he _really_ looks like a murderer.

“Good job making people think we’re a normal couple,” Derek snorts but he doesn’t let go of Stiles’ hand. Stiles feels some of the tension bleed out. Derek’s hand isn’t a knife now so much as it is a hand that awkwardly doesn’t want to hold his.

It’s an improvement in a sense.

“The incubus is gone,” Derek says suddenly.

“What?” Stiles says. “What happened? Did it just evaporate?”

“I don’t know. The vibe is just gone and I wasn’t able to see who went out.”

Stiles groans. “This is a disaster.”

“Come on,” Derek tugs Stiles out of the booth. “We’ve gotta get going before we lose him.”

Derek only lets go of Stiles’ hand when they’re out of the coffee shop. Better make this fake boyfriend thing realistic, right?

\---

“You look like a stalker,” Derek tells him. “Or a very bad bird watcher.”

They’re in the Jeep and Stiles has his head craned through the window with a pair of binoculars pointed at the entrance of the library. According to Derek, the incubus is in the library, which honestly, is a pretty weird place for a sex demon to want to hang out in. Stiles was expecting a club. It makes sense. Incubi going clubbing.

“Well your nose wasn’t doing that well tracking down the incubus,” Stiles tells him as he looks at a very tall lady walk out with an Ina Garten cookbook. “So maybe we can find him visually.”

“How? It’s not like they’ve got tails.”

“I don’t know,” Stiles sighs, putting the binoculars down. “I was just on the lookout for somebody sexy looking?”

“That line along with the binoculars is certainly one way to get yourself arrested,” Derek says.

“God, shut up and hold my hand or something.” Stiles extends his hand to the passenger seat as he starts scoping at the entrance again.

“Why? Literally nobody can see us.” He tells him like holding Stiles’ hand is such a sacrifice.

Stiles just shrugs. “Practice.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Derek assures him right before he goes and grabs Stiles’ hand anyways. Stiles can’t help but feel like he’s achieved something incredible.

\---

“That was a complete failure,” Stiles tells Derek a few hours later while he’s eating a bag of chips in Derek’s loft, seated on his table. 

“Get off my table,” Derek hits him in the shoulder with a magazine, which, wow, he has magazines now? “And stop eating my food.”

“Come on, we all know you don’t eat this stuff. You just buy it for the rest of us.” Stiles sticks his tongue out.

“Shouldn’t you be getting home?” Derek asks him. “You have school tomorrow.”

“When has school ever stopped us from doing anything, really?” Stiles says but then he sees how Derek is looking at him with this _look_. “Oh, that was your subtle way of telling me to scram.”

“Essentially, yes.”

“Terrible,” Stiles hops off of the table. “You’re a terrible boyfriend. You refuse to feed me then you run me out of your living space. I’m filing complaints. Derek Hale, literally the worst boyfriend ever.”

“I’ll walk you to your Jeep.” He offers.

“ _Now_ you’re a gentleman, wow.” Stiles says dramatically as Derek starts walking next to him. “Well, we better milk this for what it’s worth, dude.” Stiles takes his chances as he makes for Derek’s hand. 

If there’s one thing Stiles has learned today, it’s that he really likes holding Derek’s hand.

Derek doesn’t seem to mind. He just stiffens up a bit before sighing in resignation. He gives Stiles’ hand a slight squeeze and they sway back on forth as they walk. 

Stiles complains about Derek’s terrible performance as a boyfriend the entire way out of the building and Derek makes an effort to roll his eyes a lot. Although it doesn’t have its desired effect since Derek has this dumb fond smile on his face. It’s the smile Stiles secretly likes the most.

When he’s finally driving home, he can’t help but feel like his hand feels a lot colder than it did this morning.

\---

“Dude,” Scott asks as he lounges on Stiles’ bed. Then he tosses a paperclip at Stiles’ face. He’s pretty sure it got lodged somewhere in his hair. “What do you think I should do for Kira tomorrow?”

Stiles doesn’t even look up from the ancient magic brick of a book he’s attempting to read. “Movie and food. A picnic would be cool. Something outdoorsy.” He adds a post-it on a page with a summoning spell that might be useful as he says, “Just make sure that you two are really drowning in all that love, or else your picnic might turn into a porno.”

“Okay, cool. Me and Isaac were actually planning this double date thing with Allison.” Scott tells him. “What are you and Derek doing tomorrow?”

“Incubus hunting, probably.”

“Aren’t you guys gonna take a break from that and, I don’t know, go out on a date?”

“Technically, we’re always out on a ‘date’—” Stiles does some actual air quotes, “—When we’re incubus hunting. That’s sort of the whole point of the whole fake dating love thing we’re trying to do.”

Scott doesn’t say anything for a few minutes, so Stiles just goes back to reading. That is until he feels like somebody is staring holes right into his soul. When he looks up from the book, Scott is indeed staring at him. He’s getting stared at like he’s math homework Scott really doesn’t want to do. It isn’t a nice look.

“What?” Stiles asks. “What are you looking at?”

“You,” Scott answers simply in the way that actually doesn’t give Stiles any answers. Damn it. Derek’s been teaching Scott his ways.

“Why? Have I got something on my face?” Stiles rubs a hand over his face, through his hair and—oh, he found the paperclip.

“No, it’s uh, nothing. It’s nothing.” Scott says. “Well, it’s nothing you can’t figure out on your own. We can leave it at that.”

“That was by far the vaguest thing you’ve said this year, bud.” Stiles says and a tiny part of his brain wants to press for answers. But the rest of his brain doesn’t particularly care. If the lack of information isn’t deadly enough to kill him, then he can, literally, live without it.

Scott just shrugs. He’s used to it. If it’s really important, it’ll probably come back later. He just rolls around in Stiles’ bed for a bit before he says, “By the way, Malia is storming up your stairs like, right now. Don’t get surprised—”

“We’re going clubbing!” Malia says in the happiest way possible the moment she slams the door open. Stiles has a heart attack despite Scott’s warning. 

\---

Unsurprisingly, clubbing isn’t all that fun when you’re concentrating on showering somebody with fake romantic love for their own protection. 

This is why he and Derek are sitting by the bar looking like rainclouds personified. At least Derek flaunts it. He looks like a hot raincloud. He looks like a raincloud you’d want to take home. He looks like a raincloud you’d want in your _ass_. Stiles just looks as disgruntled as a wet cat. 

Kira and Scott are in the middle of the dance floor going at it like no tomorrow. Same goes for Isaac and Allison. Those four are so in love with each other that no incubus alive could tear those guys apart. Malia is also dancing, having the time of her life grinding on literally anybody who will permit it. Stiles figures that Malia is so steeped in low level lust for everybody that sex magic wouldn’t affect her either. Lydia is also by the bar, a few seats away from him and Derek, happily taking drinks bought from her by others then glaring them down before they can start talking. She’s also safe because she’s in love with Aiden despite the fact that he’s on the other side of the country. They’re really doing that whole long distance stuff. It’s actually really sweet.

What’s not sweet is Derek constantly drinking any alcoholic drink Stiles tries to order. Derek has only let him have a fucking coke. Worst clubbing experience _ever_.

“Do you feel like having sex yet?” Stiles yells over the music in Derek’s general direction.

“Don’t shout, I can hear you fine.” Derek says. “And if that’s how you flirt with people in clubs, I’d have to say I’m worried.”

“Ha ha,” Stiles tells him. “I was talking about the freaky sex magic that’s in the air. Does your dick feel magically compelled?”

“Not anymore than it usually is,” He deadpans.

“Huh,” Is all Stiles has to say. “Weird.”

“What’s weird?”

“Well, nothing. It’s just that, our whole fake boyfriend thing is bullshit. Even a nine year old incubus would see through it.” Stiles tells him. “I’m pretty sure human nine year olds saw through it.”

“Maybe I actually do love you,” Derek says and Stiles hopes the music is loud enough that Derek can’t hear how Stiles’ heart probably just sped up. If he brings it up, Stiles will blame it on the bass. It’s the bass, Derek.

He doesn’t bring it up, though. He just looks at the dance floor uninterestedly. 

“Yeah?” Stiles says and he’s surprised with how normal he sounds. “Maybe I love you too.”

Stiles isn’t gonna be able to keep this up for much longer.

\---

“What the hell are you doing here, Stiles?” Derek asks, his voice is sleep worn and his hair is sticking out to the side. It’s 2am and Stiles is in Derek’s loft drawing a bunch of sigils into the floor with a cumin and mud mixture. So, Derek’s question is actually quite valid.

“Well, incubus hunting is going terribly.” Stiles starts. “I mean, my dad just came home awhile ago and apparently they had to arrest six guys who were having a spur of the moment orgy behind a dumpster. So this incubus has gotta go, like, now.”

“That doesn’t actually answer my question,” Derek grumbles as he goes to his fridge, which is still hilarious to Stiles for some reason, and he grabs a carton of orange juice. 

Derek should be used to Stiles showing up at his loft in the wee hours of the morning. He hasn’t done it recently, but he did it a lot during the Nogitsune aftermath. There were a lot of impromptu sleepovers. Scott took to it the easiest, since they did it a bunch when they were kids, so that meant Isaac got used to it quick. Lydia hit him in the face with a lamp the first time he came over. Allison just groaned and told him not to steal the blanket. Malia bear hugged him to death in her sleep. And Derek, well, he refused to sleep.

Derek just stayed awake the entire time if Stiles decided to crash at his place. He felt really shitty about it. He was stealing this dude’s well earned beauty sleep. Derek reassured him that he didn’t mind and Stiles didn’t really believe it until he started to wake up to see Derek reading a book or having tea peacefully next to him. Sleeping next to somebody was great, but he could certainly see the appeal of Derek’s thing. He felt guarded.

“Alright, real answers. I can do that.” Stiles tells him. “Okay, so this ancient ass tome thingy?” He points to the book next to him. “It pretty much explains the intricacies of how incubi and succubi feed off of sexual energy and have sex powers and all that jazz. And of course, we all know that the only thing to battle sex magic is through romantic love.”

Derek nods slowly before uncapping the carton and taking a swig.

“Yeah, so obviously, love is a great as a defense, but what if we could use love as offense?” He says as he stands up and makes a circle around the sigils with the mixture. “Incubi and succubi use sex as offense, so that means there’s gotta be something out there that uses _love_ as offense, too.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re summoning a love monster.” Derek tells him.

“Cupids!” Stiles ignores him. “They’re low level angels, cherubs actually. And they’ve got the love powers we need for the job.”

“Love monsters.” Derek repeats. “This is going to end badly.”

“Oh come on,” Stiles finishes off the circle. “What part of angel didn’t you get?”

“Stiles, doesn’t the concept of _magical love powers_ sound a bit non consensual to you?”

“Don’t worry about that, I made sure all of this is foolproof.” Stiles says. “Cupids don’t actually cause love. Apparently, no magic is strong enough to cause any human emotion. They just sort of—” He makes a vague gesture. “—Like if the feeling is already there, they magnify it. For example, two idiots pining over each other would finally confess their feelings after a cupid got their way. It’s just a little push towards the right track.”

Derek doesn’t look convinced, but he’s not making any effort to stop Stiles. “So you’re just going to summon a Cupid now?”

“Yeah.”

“And then what?”

“I’m going to trap it in a blood contract to help us find the incubus.”

Derek pinches the bridge of his nose. “Will me telling you this is a bad idea stop you at all?”

“Nope,” Stiles grins. 

“One last question,” Derek says. “Why do this here when you know that I’d be against it completely?”

“I needed backup,” Stiles tells him. “I didn’t want to bother any of the couples since today is Valentine’s. Lydia usually skype calls Aiden at this hour. And Malia would bite me if I woke her up. You’re usually my best bet. I need you here just in case I need somebody to beat up a cupid for me.”

“I’m not going to do that,” Derek says.

“Don’t even fight it, dude. You’d do anything for me.” Stiles laughs. “Anyways, let’s get this show on the road.”

Stiles sits down by the circle and he cracks open the book to the page he bookmarked with a post-it. The summoning spell is easy enough despite the fact that it’s in Latin, since it was written down phonetically. Stiles whispers the incantation to himself, focusing on the magic in him or whatever. 

Turns out, magic is pretty anticlimactic.

The circle activates. Energy thrums in the air. He was expecting some smoke or wind to happen. Instead, what happens is that one moment, there is nobody in the summoning circle, and the next moment, there is.

Stiles didn’t expect the cupid to look like a very irritated looking messy haired teenage girl in a hoodie and pajama pants. But then again, Stiles is rarely right when it comes to predicting outcomes.

“What the fuck,” She says.

“Uhh,” Stiles replies. Blood contract. Time for the blood contract. He scrambles for the safety pin he has in his pocket and he quickly pricks his finger. Blood drops onto the circle. “My name is Gościsław Stilinski—”

“Your name is _what_?” Both the cupid and Derek say.

“—And I order you to find the incubus currently in Beacon Hills and bring him to us. Under this blood contract, you, uh, wait. What’s your name?”

“Caroline,” The cupid grits out.

“Under this blood contract, Caroline, you will only be set free once my due is paid.” Stiles finishes.

Caroline just looks at Stiles and Derek. Her eyes darting between the two of them in mild disbelief. She says, “Okay? Did you seriously just wake me up for that?”

“Yeah?” Stiles says but it’s more of a question than anything. “Are you sure you’re a cupid? You look sort of, well, normal.”

“Times are changing dumbass,” She stands up and dusts herself off. “What did you expect? Wings? A bow and arrow?”

“A bit,” Stiles admits.

“I swear, he’s not a bigot or anything.” Derek tells her. “He’s just an idiot.”

“Hey!” 

“I’m just surprised that he was able to do the blood contract correctly,” Caroline says. She turns to Stiles. “Look, it’s whatever. I’ll get your incubus. Do you want me to kill it?”

“No, no. Not at all.” Stiles tells her. “Just bring him in. We’ve just gotta give him a little chat about control since the public sex is getting out of hand.”

“Okay, so, can I go now? I kind of need your permission because of the blood contract.” She says.

“Oh. Yes. Sure. You are free to—” And with a sound that reminds Stiles of a flock of surprised pigeons, she’s gone.

“That was something,” Derek tells him. He hands him the carton. “Orange juice?”

\---

Caroline comes back a few hours later, when they’re hanging out in Derek’s mom car, listening to some pop radio station, watching over the Allison/Isaac/Scott/Kira picnic from afar so that they don’t have to be awkward 5th and 6th wheels.

“I sort of feel like a dad right now,” He tells Derek over _All About That Bass_. “We’re watching over the kiddies, making sure they don’t have sex on the picnic blanket.”

Derek just snorts and does that happy fond smile thing. It’s actually a pretty good day.

But then the universe fucks it up when suddenly the doors close and the locks click shut. 

“Whaaaat the hell,” Stiles says. He tries to open the door but he has as much success as he did when he was six and his dad childlocked the Jeep. “Derek, is your car possessed?”

“No,” He says and Derek can’t seem to open the door either. 

“Werewolf strength, come on, dude.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Caroline says when she suddenly fucking _materializes_ in the backseat with some wing flapping noises. Second heart attack of the week. He won’t survive the year at this rate. “I found your incubus.”

Stiles and Derek turn to face Caroline and next to her is this very nervous looking teenage boy going through that phase where he thinks putting bangs over his eyes is cool.

“This is Trev,” Caroline says and Trev waves meekly. “I’m taking care of him now, so you don’t have to worry about control or public sex anymore.”

“Hello, Trev.” Derek says politely as Stiles blurts, “ _You’re_ the incubus?”

Trev just hunches on himself. Oh fuck he looks like he’s going to cry.

“No! No, oh god, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” Stiles tries to salvage the situation. Both Caroline and Derek are glaring daggers at him. “I just thought an incubus would look more sexy or something. Not that you aren’t aesthetically pleasing!”

Derek puts his hand on Stiles’ shoulder. His hand is probably saying _stop, just stop._.

“I’m asexual,” Trev says so quietly that Stiles almost didn’t catch it.

“Oh, cool, cool. Like no hate or anything but how does that even work?”

Derek pinches him in the neck. “You’re terrible.”

“He feeds off of sexual energy to live, okay.” Caroline practically hisses at Stiles. “That doesn’t mean he has to experience sexual attraction, asshole.”

“Sorry, I’m an idiot.” Stiles punches Derek in the shoulder when he hears him whisper “Glad you finally accepted it.” 

“Whatever,” Caroline rolls her eyes. “Just don’t bother breaking your car open or calling anybody from outside to get it open. It’s magically locked and your pack is really in love right now, so they won’t notice a thing. Trev and I are going on a date after this, so be good.”

“Whoa, a cupid and an incubus. Plot twist, much.” Stiles says and he gets everybody’s glare in return.

“So how are we supposed to get out, then?” Derek asks because Stiles has decided to keep his mouth shut for a bit.

“You have to acknowledge your feelings for each other.” Trev tells them.

“What?” Stiles says.

“You guys were really bad fake boyfriends,” He says. “But my powers couldn’t affect you anyways since you guys were actually in love with each other.”

“ _What?_ ” Stiles says again but this time Derek joins in.

“Both of you are incredibly dense.” Caroline tells them. “But since I’m a cupid, and Trev is a good guy who believes in love, and it’s fucking Valentine’s day, you two don’t get out of this car until you acknowledge your feelings for each other.”

And with the noise of eighteen pigeons flying away all at once, they’re gone. There’s silence in the car save for John Legend soulfully singing on the radio that all of me loves all of you. How fitting.

“So,” Derek starts. “You look nice?”

Stiles cracks the fuck up.

“Sorry, sorry.” He says once he can breathe. “It’s just that, isn’t magic really nosy? Like damn, my feelings are none of its business.”

“But, that means that there _are_ feelings.” Derek tells him.

“Yeah. Yeah of course there are feelings.” Stiles says. “I’m in love with you. Not fake love. I’ve been in real love with you for a while now.” Stiles doesn’t feel as if confessing that truth made him any lighter. He feels heavier now. As if now that he’s said it, it’s now undeniably real. “Do you have feelings? For me, I mean?”

“I—I actually don’t know.” He says and Stiles’ heart does this terrible thing where it doesn’t hurt, it sort of just feels colder than it was this morning. “No, hey. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s okay you don’t have to explain. You can punch the window open or—”

“Look, I don’t know anything about love.” Derek looks him in the eye. “I always got it wrong. Always. But I could see how it would be with you. It would be easy with you. You’d be easy to love.”

A humorless laugh shocks its way out of Stiles. “Lie of the century, dude. Do you even know me?”

“Yeah, you’re an insufferable dick most of the time but it’d still be easy to love you because—” He pauses. “Because that insufferable dick would be you.”

Of course Derek would be the one to sound so cheesy yet so damn sincere. “So what, is this us confessing our feelings to each other? Do we get our perfect happily ever after now?”

“It’s not going to be perfect, Stiles.” Derek sighs.

“Hey, I wasn’t expecting it to be. I mean, look at us. We’re far from perfect, but I love it anyways.” Stiles tells him. “Like the past few days where we were pretending to be fake boyfriends? I liked that. I’d like more of that.”

There’s silence again. John Legend is really feeling it.

“The feeling is there,” Derek says slowly. “And I think I’d like to be there with you.”

“Well, I’m already here dude. I’m with you.” Stiles tells him.

This is when Derek holds his hand. It isn’t like before with the grabbing or awkwardness. It’s just this simple touch. It’s just Derek showing Stiles that he’s here. Stiles doesn’t feel any less heavy. But this time, it’s a good kind of heavy. It’s grounding. 

Neither of them actually hear the locks click open. Stiles is definitely not paying attention to the locks. He’s too preoccupied taking in the warmth of Derek’s hand against his, the realness. Because that’s what this is. It’s real.

**Author's Note:**

> happy valentine's day you guys!!
> 
> im [actualbird](http://actualbird.tumblr.com/) on tumblr


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